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Good, level-headed post. Gaming is just another way to avoid real life for a little while, which is scary for almost everybody but more so for teenagers. It i

Good, level-headed post. Gaming is just another way to avoid real life for a little while, which is scary for almost everybody but more so for teenagers. It is also fun as hell, and builds certain skills such as reasoning and problem solving, hand-eye coordination, teamwork (at least some do), and so on. Playing games is also a basic human activity and goes back for millennia. Just imagine the amount of "social impairment" the top NBA players or Olympic athletes had in order to get to the top of their games? I knew a girl that had dreams of becoming an Olympic skater...her whole childhood and teenage years were utterly destroyed...and she failed. Was she sick? Did she need treatment? I also knew a guy that tried to make pro baseball...his life was consumed into his late 20s or so. Didn't make it either. Did he need treatment? Throwing away 20 years of your life in hopes of becoming the next Derek Jeter is ok but playing some video games for a few months is a disease? Oh, that makes sense. Come to think of it, should I have been taken away from my mom because she encouraged my stamp collecting hobby, which took time away from other parts of my life? Just how far will they go with this.....??????

wilsonnb2 8y ago
> I also knew a guy that tried to make pro baseball...his life was consumed into his late 20s or so. Didn't make it either. Did he need treatment? > I knew a girl that had dreams of becoming an Olympic skater...her whole childhood and teenage years were utterly destroyed...and she failed. Was she sick? Did she need treatment? > Throwing away 20 years of your life in hopes of becoming the next Derek Jeter is ok but playing some video games for a few months is a disease? Oh, that makes sense. I really don't think you understand what the WHO is talking about. Here's their definition for gaming disorder, emphasis mine: A pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. Doing something with all of your free time, dedicating your life to it, that's not an addiction. It's an addiction when you can't stop even if you want to, even though it's causing negative consequences in your life. Someone who games for eight hours a day but still has a fulfilling life outside of gaming and could stop if they wanted to has no problem. Someone who games for 18 hours a day, regularly misses work or skips classes to play games, and can't stop playing has a problem. If you're interested in hearing more about this, there's a subreddit dedicated to people who believe they are addicted to gaming and want to stop. It's got some decent reads on it. https://old.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/top/?sort=top&t=all https://old.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/top/?sort=top&t=all

wilsonnb2 8y ago

> I also knew a guy that tried to make pro baseball...his life was consumed into his late 20s or so. Didn't make it either. Did he need treatment? > I knew a girl that had dreams of becoming an Olympic skater...her whole childhood and teenage years were utterly destroyed...and she failed. Was she sick? Did she need treatment? > Throwing away 20 years of your life in hopes of becoming the next Derek Jeter is ok but playing some video games for a few months is a disease? Oh, that makes sense. I really don't think you understand what the WHO is talking about. Here's their definition for gaming disorder, emphasis mine: A pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. Doing something with all of your free time, dedicating your life to it, that's not an addiction. It's an addiction when you can't stop even if you want to, even though it's causing negative consequences in your life. Someone who games for eight hours a day but still has a fulfilling life outside of gaming and could stop if they wanted to has no problem. Someone who games for 18 hours a day, regularly misses work or skips classes to play games, and can't stop playing has a problem. If you're interested in hearing more about this, there's a subreddit dedicated to people who believe they are addicted to gaming and want to stop. It's got some decent reads on it. https://old.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/top/?sort=top&t=all https://old.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/top/?sort=top&t=all